It sounds like he had a wonderful life with you, and you can take comfort in knowing that he lived longer than average.

Grit is a controversial issue - it used to be standard advice that you had to provide grit because they couldn't digest their food without it, but nowadays most people will tell you that you should never give grit to a parrot because it's dangerous and can cause crop impaction. I think both positions are off base and the truth is somewhere in the middle. It's well established that parrots can survive without grit, and it's also established that it's part of their wild diet and they desire it. IMO it's up to the owner to decide whether they want to provide sensible amounts of grit. If you're interested, I have a VERY long article at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... -grit.html that provides all the factual-looking information that I could find on the subject.

Thanks all for your supportive and helpful input, I appreciate it so much. It has now been over 2 weeks already since I lost my wee friend. But just like what happens to us, all those happy memories and nice thoughts but came to a sad end. I will never forget him though, never. Poor wee thing, Really missing him, reduced to 2 and I will have deal with it again when it happens to them, it is tough for me to deal with but it is worth experiencing this sadness just to have them around and their company, budgies are great wee characters, each with his own little personality. Unfortunately Duckie was a frightened wee soul, who I tried to win over and talk really nice to him...but never won him over...but still love him the same. Bye my little friend, hope you are flying free and happy now.... somewhere else.